Casanova's Women Read Online Free

– becomes the confidant and plaything of some of the most well-connected women in the city.
    And so his career as a womaniser begins. Dispensing with formalities, these
nobile donne
allow Casanova to visit their palazzi unannounced, at will; and even to mingle with their unmarried daughters at the gratings of the convents where they are enrolled as
educande
, or schoolgirls. Casanova is in his element being their trusted pet. Understandably he would much rather be made a fuss of by a room full of rich sophisticated beauties than kneel on a cold church floor all day long saying his prayers. As he joins in with their small-talk he discovers what women think and feel about life, literature, love and men. He learns how to talk to women, howto make them laugh and how to befriend them. He learns to like women as much as they like him.
    One night when he is sixteen years old, Casanova discovers the joys of sex in the arms of two sisters: above all he desires one-to-one contact with a woman, but after this first experience he is never averse to increasing the ratio to one-to-two, as long as he is the only man. It proves such a pleasurable purusit that, while he is not bisexual, he will not turn down the very occasional opportunity in the future to experience it with a member of his own sex. Women, however, are his overwhelming interest. They are never mere bodies, but always individuals to him; the idea of taking part in an anonymous orgy does not turn him on. Casanova likes to get to know a woman before he makes love to her. For a woman is like a book to him: good or bad, pretty or ugly, she excites his curiosity, his desire to discover and read. If he is to enjoy sex with her, there must be some emotional or intellectual
frisson
between them. Casanova requires a woman to like him, to desire him, even to love him. And for sex to reach its zenith, he needs to love her with the same intensity.
    Addicted not to sex, but rather to making an endless succession of conquests – a trait that, in a non-sexual context, extends to his relationships with all those he wishes to impress – Casanova goes out of his way to court women’s affection and friendship, both in bed and out of it. He charms them with his intellect and disarms them with his looks. He gets them to talk about themselves, and listens to them with keen interest. He spoils them with the best food, the best accommodation and extravagant presents. When making a move, he seldom oversteps the mark but instinctively knows when to keep silent and when to flatter, when to retreat and when to pounce. He knows how to manipulate a situation to his own advantage, and very few can resist his persuasive arguments. Taking no for answer is not something he does willingly. If a woman tells him that she will not sleep with him, he can make her see in a few easy steps that she means quite the opposite.
    His tactics in the game of love can breach the most impenetrablefortress, and once the walls are down Casanova has full confidence in his ability to please the defeated one who lies physically and emotionally naked at his feet. In bed, he seeks something more than simple sexual satisfaction – a mutual climax that is like death in each other’s arms, the kiss that unites two souls. He hints that his penis is large and that his self-control is exceptional, but he also admits to having his insecurities. Able in his youth to perform several times a night with the same lover, and to prolong his performance until she is satisfied, he nevertheless lives in permanent fear of failure. As he admits with disarming candour, ‘I have all my life been dominated by the fear that my steed would flinch from beginning another race.’
    Sexually uninhibited himself, Casanova believes that the slightest inhibition spoils enjoyment for both parties. He spontaneously does delicious things to women that they would not dare ask a man to do to them, and he shows them sexual practices that